It's Just Not the Same
by MintLeafeon
Summary: He's not going to be here for his own birthday. Celebrating it is just not going to be the same. We're going to have to find some way to celebrate it right? Or do we have to wait?
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **It's Just Not the Same

**Summary: **He's not going to be here for his own birthday. Celebrating it is just not going to be the same. We're going to have to find some way to celebrate it right? Or do we have to wait?

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Prince of Tennis. The anime and its canon characters belong to their rightful owners.

* * *

"Wait, you have to leave?" Fuji questioned with a look of hurt on his face. It was the 17th of December, a full week before Christmas Eve or better yet known as Ryoma's birthday.

Ryoma nodded reluctantly. "It turns out that baka oyaji had something planned for the week, so we have to go back to America for the week."

"But what about Christmas Eve? Your birthday? Christmas?"

"I don't know," Ryoma said with a shrug. "You know that if I had a choice, I'd try and stay with you all, but oyaji isn't giving me a choice right now," he explained with a roll of his eyes. "Baka oyaji has to make everything so difficult."

"When are you leaving?" Tezuka asked his youngest boyfriend.

"Tomorrow. We'll be gone for the week," he answered them both, scratching the back of his head. "I can't believe oyaji is making me go on this stupid trip in the first place. I'd rather stay home and look after Karupin."

Fuji and Tezuka both chuckled at that. "We'll miss you Ryo-chan," Fuji said, kissing Ryoma on the forehead.

"I'll miss ya too," Ryoma said as Tezuka pecked him on the cheek. "I gotta get home and pack. See you both later."

"Bye Ryo-chan. See you later," Fuji waved off to the boy with a small smile on his face.

Once Ryoma had left, Fuji sighed. "I can't believe we won't be able to celebrate his birthday together…"

"I know Syuu. I know. We'll just have to find some other way to celebrate his birthday," Tezuka said, wrapping an arm around Fuji's shoulders to comfort the sad brunet.

"Come on. Let's get back to Kawamura's Sushi and tell everyone else the news," Tezuka said after a minute or two of comforting Fuji.

Turning on their heels, they both began to walk to their friend's sushi shop in order to tell them exactly why Ryoma wouldn't be able to join them for Christmas this year.

* * *

"Wait what! We had a party thought up and everything though!" Eiji whined after hearing the news that Fuji and Tezuka had brought to them.

"You mean his old man decided to just have a week's vacation right before his birthday?" Momo asked, blinking and gaping in surprise. "What the heck?"

"We don't know either," Fuji admitted with a sigh as he looked out the door and into the streets which were getting just a light snowfall.

"That's too bad. We were really looking forward to spending Ryoma's birthday together," Oishi said, wrapping his arm around Eiji's shoulders.

Kaidoh could only shake his head in response along with a hiss. "Is anyone staying at his house?"

"It seems as though Echizen and his parents will be going to America. Nanako is spending the week with her college friends, and it seems as though their family pet Karupin will be the only one staying at the home actually," Inui explained to them all.

"How do you even know that Inui-senpai?" Momo questioned, raising an eyebrow at the other.

"I have my ways," Inui answered with a small smirk on his face as he continued to write in his notebook.

"That's still just plain creepy," Momo said with a shudder before turning to everyone else. "So what are we going to do for the kid anyway? I mean, he's going to be gone for a week starting tomorrow."

"We can't celebrate his birthday this early either… but it would be rude to celebrate it afterward," Oishi reasoned with a hand on his chin in thought. "What are we going to do? We want to celebrate his birthday, but there is no way to do that unless he is here with us?"

"Let's start brainstorming then. What can we do nya?" Eiji said, jumping up with a large smile at the thought of coming up with a plan to celebrate his ochibi's birthday.

"Does he have a laptop?" Inui questioned, flipping a few pages in his notebook.

"He does," Tezuka answered. He remembered seeing the electronic in Ryoma's room throughout the two years that he has been with the boy.

"I think it's in his desk. He mentioned bringing it with him though, so he won't be bored if he can't play tennis because something happened," Fuji added on. He had seen Ryoma on the laptop late at night for something. He just didn't know what exactly. "Why are you asking?"

"There are a few programs that will allow video chats through a laptop," Inui explained. "Does his laptop happen to have a webcam?"

"It does," Fuji answered, nodding his head. He had looked at the laptop when Ryoma was gone and saw the little camera at the top of the screen.

"Well then. We'll just need to bring one laptop and download the program onto it, so we can video chat with Echizen. We'll just need him to download the program as well," Inui explained.

"We can call him and ask him to download it," Fuji offered, already getting his cell phone to make the call to the youngest.

"Alright. Here's the name of the program," Inui said, showing Fuji a quick peek at the notebook in order to get the name.

"Alright," Fuji nodded in response, calling Ryoma on his cell and putting the call on speaker.

"Hello?" Ryoma greeted as soon as he answered the phone. It sounded like he was moving something around because there was a loud thump on Ryoma's side of the call.

"Hey there Ryo-chan," Fuji greeted with a small smile.

"Hello Ryoma," Tezuka greeted as well, letting the younger know that the phone was on speaker.

"What's up? I'm just cleaning up my room. Okaa-san won't leave me alone about it. I have to clean up my room before packing up for the week trip," Ryoma said, another thump making itself known.

"Okay, I was wondering what that was nya~," Eiji chimed with a happy tone.

"Are you bringing your laptop with you?" Fuji asked, just to make sure.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Do you think you can download a program on it at the moment?" Inui asked.

"Let me turn it on really quick," Ryoma said, a few more noises making themselves known for a few more seconds as more things were moved around. "Okay it's up. What's the program."

"It's Skype," Fuji answered.

"I've heard of that program. It's the chatting program right? With either voice calls or video calls?" Ryoma said, the sounds of typing keys being heard through the call. "I found it. Did you want me to download it?"

"Yes," Tezuka answered for everyone. "We all want to talk with you on your birthday. We may not be able to celebrate with you in person, but we'd like to celebrate it nonetheless."

"Really now? Well I'll download it real quick. While it's going I'll continue the clean up. I don't want my old man yelling at me to hurry." The tone in Ryoma's voice just signaled to the rest that he was probably rolling his eyes at the moment. "I'll text you when I have the program up along with contact information."

"Alright Ryo-chan. See you and talk to you later," Fuji said before they both hung up the call.

"Yes! Ochibi is gonna get the program, and we'll be able to video call him for his birthday! Yahoo! We can celebrate his birthday on time nya!" he cheered happily, Momo joining in with his own cheer.

"You are being loud," Kaidoh hissed with a small shake of his head.

"You want to go Mamushi!" Momo threatened with a fist as the two nearly began to fight again, Oishi trying to calm the two down. No matter how much time has passed, these two rivals will never stop fighting will they?

"What are we going to do for Echizen's birthday party anyway?" Oishi questioned once Tezuka was able to stop the two rivals from fighting with a threat of Inui juice just like in middle school.

"We have to make sure we decorate his house," Eiji suggested with a large smile. "Inui said that no one was going to be home except for Karupin, so we have to decorate his house!"

"And no Mitsu, you aren't going to be the only one planning it like last year," Fuji teased with a chuckle. "That was a great party, but this time, we are all going to plan it. Right everyone?"

"Yeah!" Momo agreed enthusiastically along with a few of the more vocal in the group while the rest just nodded in response.

"Let's get this started then, and don't let your guards down," Tezuka said, making everyone chuckle. How did that last part even make sense anyway? Oh well, it was Tezuka, so no big deal.

* * *

Throughout the entire week, the entire team was busy planning things to do for Ryoma's birthday party. They had to make sure to come up with something fun to surprise Ryoma, but they couldn't do that much either. The reason? They couldn't do birthday activities if the birthday boy wasn't there right? That would be weird.

So they were busy getting the decorations set up in the room, doing different parts of the living room throughout the next week.

The team had also gone to the stores and picked out presents for their youngest along with Christmas presents for the next day. They all agreed that they would show Ryoma that he had both birthday and Christmas presents but wouldn't open them until Ryoma returned.

It just wouldn't be right if they opened Ryoma's presents right in front of him. It would be a lot better to wait until Ryoma would be able to open them himself. It was just more festival-like and polite for that matter.

They had gotten Hanako involved as well.

Ever since the event on Halloween with the collapsed haunted house, Hanako had been just a tad distant from the rest of them.

They had all understood that the collapse of the haunted house was not Tezuka's, Fuji's, or Hanako's fault, but the girl still felt it was her fault.

They had to explain to her that it was just bad luck, and it was fine since Ryoma survived.

Tezuka and Fuji had to reassure her as well.

At the moment, Karupin was sitting on a cushion in front of Hanako, meowing and lightly swishing her tail from side to side. The only three in the house were Hanako, Tezuka, and Fuji as the others were busy, spending time with their families instead of helping out with the party.

During the week, the team had taken turns, spending time with their family or helping decorating. It just wouldn't be right not to spend time with their families either, and everyone understood that. Especially with today being the 23rd of December, so it was especially important not to spend too much time away from the family.

"Are you sure I should be helping you with this?" Hanako questioned, working on making some of the decorations. She wasn't an artist for nothing, so the group was hoping that she would agree to help them make some of the decorations instead of buying them all instead. Making them just seems more personal, and that was perfect considering the season and the holidays coming up.

"For the last time Hanako, we are glad you are here with us. It doesn't matter that the event on Halloween happened. All that matters is that Ryo-chan survived," Tezuka answered the girl, putting up another decoration that Hanako handed to him.

"These are very good Hanako. Thank you for the help," Fuji said, Hanako handing him another painting to hang. This was a picture of Karupin in a Christmas themed outfit. It was cute to say the least.

Hanako just nodded in response before saying, "It's the least I could do for the trouble I caused. If I had just not decided to take you to that for-"

"It wasn't your fault Hanako," Fuji interrupted the girl with a stern stare; his eyes opened just a slit.

Hanako froze at the look before continuing her painting.

"Look Hanako. I asked you to include that booth. If anything, that's my fault for asking you to do such a thing for the Halloween festival. It's not your fault. We did our best to protect Ryoma, and you know it," Fuji told the girl, stopping to put a hand on Hanako's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault, and you should realize that by now."

"Ryoma doesn't have any feelings against you. He had a lot of fun at the festival. It was Halloween, a bit of fright should be involved. It was more than planned, but it was still fun. And we got to spend some time together. That should be fine," Tezuka added his own opinion to the talk.

Hanako sighed before nodding in reply. "Thanks for letting me help then. I'm glad that I get to help with his birthday party again. Last year was fun. Especially keeping the secret away from the rest of your team," she chuckled in response as she finished the very last decoration and allowed the two to hang it up in the back of the room.

"What was the plan for tomorrow again?" Hanako asked as they were all cleaning up the supplies, making sure not to touch the decorations on the wall.

"We all come here in the evening after spending time with our families. If we get here late enough, it will just be the morning in California where Ryoma went to," Tezuka explained. "We are 17 hours ahead of them after all."

"Right. See you then?" Hanako said, packing up her things at the front of the door.

"See you then. And don't blame yourself for everything that happened a two months ago. Everything is fine now."

"Thanks," Hanako said with a nod, turning on her heel and leaving the Echizen house grounds.

"Let's hope we can give Ryoma a good birthday party even though he's not here," Fuji said, a small, sad smile on his face as he leaned against Tezuka's chest.

"I know Syuu. I know," he replied, patting Fuji on the shoulder as the two locked up the house after leaving food for Karupin for the rest of the night and turning to leave.

* * *

"Alright. Someone call Ryoma and ask him to get onto his laptop," Hanako said, a bit excited as she handed plates of food around for everyone to eat.

"Thanks for the food Hanako," Oishi said with a nod of his head.

"Too bad Kawamura is still in another country," Eiji said, already eating some of the food as Tezuka pulled out his phone in order to call Ryoma.

"Yes. Are you able to get on the laptop right now? Yes I know it's early Ryoma," Tezuka said into the food, setting his food aside just for now. "I know. Could you get onto the program? We'll get on the laptop Inui brought along. Okay. See you then."

Tezuka hung up the phone while Inui pulled up his laptop, turned it on, and logged into the Skype program to see that Ryoma had logged in a few minutes after ending the call with Tezuka.

Within just a few moments, the program was up and running, the video call going through and finally being picked up.

"Hello everyone and happy Christmas Eve," Ryoma greeted with a small smirk on his face. Behind him was just the wall of his hotel room at the moment, pretty plain to see the least along with a window that showed it was snowing outside.

"Happy birthday Ryoma!" everyone greeted him with a warm smile.

"Wow. Are those decorations for me?" Ryoma said, the smirk on his face growing just a fraction wider as Hanako picked up the laptop gently and showed it around the room, letting the male see all of the decorations that the entire group had put up.

"Yeah," Eiji cheered, standing up with his plate of food and walking around with Hanako. "Some of them we got from the store in your favorite color, and the other ones, Hanako made herself."

"Is that a picture of Karupin in a Christmas outfit?" Ryoma questioned with a chuckle as Hanako pointed the laptop in the direction of the handmade decorations.

"Do you like them?" Hanako questioned, giggling at the decorations she had made. It was a lot of fun for her to create the pictures. She was used to making human portraits, so doing cute animal ones was a good change of pace for her. "I had a lot of fun with them. Karupin is a good model."

"Mrow," Karupin meowed as she jumped up onto Eiji's head and gave a small little wave toward Ryoma in the camera.

"Hey Karupin. Glad to see that everyone has been taking care of you."

"Mrow," Karupin meowed happily, giving Ryoma a cat smile in return as Hanako fed the cat some food.

"Want to see the presents you got?" Oishi questioned as Hanako put the laptop back on the table.

"You got presents? Even though we weren't celebrating together?" Ryoma questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"We weren't going to forget your birthday Echizen," Momo said with a cheeky smile on his face as he pulled up a large box filled with presents.

"These are the ones for your birthday. We have the Christmas presents in another box. We were planning to wait until you got back for you to open them all to be honest," Inui explained to the boy who was blinking at the box of presents.

"You guys didn't have to get me birthday presents you know," Ryoma chuckled, shaking his head at them. "But thanks anyway. I appreciate it."

"Looks like you dating Tezuka-buchou and Fuji-senpai turned out well for ya," Momo teased the other. "You actually have some manners," he added with a snicker.

"Momo-senpai," Ryoma growled out with a small smirk on his face before he chuckled as well. "It's the Christmas holiday, so I may as well be a little thankful."

"I got you a present too Ryoma, so I guess it was a two-fer with the decorations I made," Hanako said, a sheepish chuckle making its way out of her mouth.

"It's fine Hanako. You didn't need to get anything either."

"I wanted to. You know, for all the trouble I caused. I guess you could consider it an apology gift with the decorations and a birthday present with this one," Hanako said, pulling out a present from the box and showing it to the boy before putting it back. "Make sure to open mine first though," she said with a wink. "I think you'll like it."

"Alright, alright," Ryoma said before looking up at something. "Oh. I have something to do really quickly. Be right back alright everyone?" he said, standing up from his seat and walking away.

"Alright Ryoma!" Fuji called out to the boy, making sure he was loud enough for the boy to hear even while walking off.

They all waited for a few minutes for Ryoma to finish his business and come back to the computer.

"What is taking Ochibi so long?" Eiji whined, leaning back against Oishi.

"I don't know Ei-"

He was interrupted by the sound of footsteps.

"What is that?" Hanako asked, turning around and looking toward the source of them before gasping. "Oh my Kami!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **It's Just Not the Same

**Summary: **He's not going to be here for his own birthday. Celebrating it is just not going to be the same. We're going to have to find some way to celebrate it right? Or do we have to wait?

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Prince of Tennis. The anime and its canon characters belong to their rightful owners.

* * *

"Oh my Kami!" Hanako yelled happily, eyes wide at what she saw.

"What's wrong Hanako?" Fuji and Tezuka asked, turning toward Hanako to see her practically gaping at something in another direction.

Everyone turned to where Hanako was looking only to scream or blink in surprise.

"Ryoma!" Fuji yelled, getting up with a large smile before rushing over to the younger and grabbing him into a large hug, Tezuka right behind him.

"Nice to see you all too," Ryoma chuckle, returning the hugs to both of his boyfriends as best as he could.

"How are you here?" Momo asked, still shocked at seeing his best friend in Japan instead of in America like they all had thought.

"Oyaji decided to cut the trip short and allowed me to go on an earlier flight. I wanted to keep it a surprise. How was it?" he answered, a smirk on his face.

"That was the biggest surprise ever!" Eiji yelled happily, hopping up and down before jumping forward and crushing Ryoma in a glomp.

Fuji and Tezuka were lucky to let go of Ryoma at the last second to avoid the tackle hug from their acrobatic friend.

"Eiji-senpai… Can't… breathe…" Ryoma gasped out, making the red-head loosen his grip on the younger.

"How did you even do that?" Hanako asked, rushing to the kitchen to fetch another plate of food for Ryoma to eat.

Ryoma chuckled before explaining exactly how he was able to hide in the house.

"Well I did say I got an earlier flight. I showed up just a bit ago actually when you guys were still setting up for the video call. I arrived by taxi if you have to know that. Anyway, I hid my suitcase in a nearby bush that I'm gonna grab in a bit and climbed a tree to sneak in my room through the window that I pried open. From there I just made sure I had my laptop and cell phone with me. It was easy enough from there," he finished with a smirk on his face.

"You little troublemaker!" Momo yelled, walking over and grabbing the boy into a head-lock before ruffling the boy's hair.

"Hey cool it Momo-senpai," Ryoma teased, pushing the taller off of him.

"Echizen," Oishi called out, bringing out the box of presents. "Since you're here, why don't you open these up hmm?"

Ryoma glanced at the box before shrugging with a smirk on his face. "Sure. Why not?"

For the rest of the night, Ryoma and the rest of the team spent their time playing games that Hanako, Eiji, and Oishi had managed to bring over just in case some of the team wanted to play while they waited for Ryoma to get on the video chat. They ate the food that several of them had brought and opened Ryoma's presents of course.

It was one of the best birthdays of the year in their point of view. Not only did they get to surprise Ryoma, but they got a surprise of their own.

Now here comes the next question when it comes down to it.

"How are you going to celebrate Christmas?" Hanako realized with a start, widening her eyes and looking at everyone with a shocked expression. "We didn't even know he was going to be back soon, so we didn't try to get a tree or anything!"

Kaidoh hissed in response to that, trying to think of a way to be able to celebrate Christmas with the youngest of them.

"How are we going to do this?"

"He could always celebrate it with one of us," Fuji suggested, a smile on his lips at the thought of allowing Ryoma to go to his house for the Christmas day.

"That's a great idea!" Oishi said happily, smiling before that smile turned to a small frown. "Except… who is he going to spend it with?"

"Obviously, he will be spending it with either Fuji or Tezuka considering the two are his boyfriends, Tezuka being his fiancé," Inui informed them all.

Fuji, Tezuka, and Ryoma all nodded in response before they all turned to each other for the decision.

"Why doesn't he spend half of it with my family and then the other half with yours?" Tezuka questioned Fuji, glancing at Ryoma for his input as well.

"That's fine with me. Okaa-san and baka oyaji are supposed to come in later tonight anyway," Ryoma answered with a shrug of his shoulders. He didn't really care whose house he went to first anyhow. As long as he got to spend it with his boyfriends.

"How about we let him celebrate with my family first and then yours Mitsu?" Fuji asked, tapping his chin with his finger. "Ooh! Better yet, how about we three go to my family's celebration first, then Mitsu's family, and then when Ryoma's family comes back, we celebrate the last of Christmas day here?"

"Are you sure? Isn't that a lot of trouble for you three?" Oishi worried for them.

"Nya! Don't worry about it Oishi~!" Eiji chimed, clinging onto his boyfriend's shoulders. "If anyone can figure out a schedule, it's those three," he chuckled with a large grin on his face.

"No kidding. If they can't figure it out, I don't know who can," Momo said, nodding his head in agreement.

"It's getting late," Ryoma informed them, looking at the clock. "Would you all like to stay here for the night?"

"If you wouldn't mind," Hanako answered, a small smile on her face as she nodded.

"That'd be great Echizen," Oishi agreed as Eiji jumped up and down in excitement.

Momo nodded with a large grin on his face as he decided to knuckle Ryoma's head once again, putting him in another headlock.

Kaidoh hissed with a simple nod of his head in response while Inui nodded, still writing down information in his notebook.

Tezuka and Fuji both nodded, not surprisingly, before the entire group decided to figure out who roomed with whom.

It was obvious that everyone was going to room with whoever they were coupled with. Therefore, Hanako got her own room, Kaidoh and Inui were paired up together, Momo was also in his own room because his couple was with Ann from Fudoumine, Oishi and Eiji in another room together, with Tezuka and Fuji staying in Ryoma's room of course.

"Can I sleep with Karupin in my room?" Hanako questioned Ryoma.

"I don't see why not. Karupin seems to like you well enough," he said, looking down at the ground where the cat was nuzzling against Hanako's leg.

"Yay! Thanks Ryoma-kun," Hanako said happily, smiling as she picked up the cat and went up to her guest room to sleep for the night. "Happy birthday again Ryoma-kun!" she called down the stairs before adding, "and a Merry Christmas to you all!"

Everyone returned the call with smiles on their faces before they each went up to their assigned rooms and rested for the night until the next morning.

* * *

The next morning, everyone went back to their homes while Ryoma, Tezuka, and Fuji called their parents in the early morning to tell their families their plans for that Christmas holiday. The parents were a little worried about whether it would work or not, but after some convincing from their children, they agreed to the little plan.

"Merry Christmas everyone," Fuji greeted as he walked into his home, Tezuka and Ryoma following behind him.

"Hello Echizen. Tezuka," Yuuta greeted, helping set the table for breakfast that morning.

When Fuji called, they realized that they would need to set up extra places for breakfast and cook more food considering they were visiting Fuji's family first for breakfast and the morning, then Tezuka's for lunch and the afternoon, and then finally Ryoma's house for dinner and the evening.

"What does your family do for Christmas?" Ryoma asked as they all sat down at the dining table for breakfast.

"After breakfast, we usually go for a walk around town until lunchtime," Fuji's mother, Yoshiko, answered them, smiling as she put the food on the table for everyone to eat. "Would that be alright with you?"

"That's perfectly fine," Tezuka answered with a polite nod before they all started to eat. "My family has the same tradition every year as well, so it really does not make a difference to me."

"Tell me," Yumiko, Fuji's older sister, stated a few minutes into the meal, "Exactly how did the relationship between you three start?"

"Well first it started when Kunimitsu proposed to me," Ryoma started off, showing off the ring on his ring finger that he normally kept hidden except for special occasions, holidays being some of those.

"Now that's a beautiful ring," Yumiko said, grinning at the piece of jewelry. "So how did Syuusuke get involved exactly then if you two were already in an established relationship?"

"Well it started on this year's Valentine's Day," Ryoma started until he gestured for Tezuka to continue.

"We had gotten a card then from someone anonymous. It was only by chance when we spent the day with Syuusuke on his birthday this same year that we managed to piece together some clues. The biggest clue was that Syuusuke kept mentioning how glad he was about our smiles, letting us know that he had written the card."

"We gave him a chance, and I don't really regret giving him that chance," Ryoma finished with a small smile toward his boyfriend.

"Well isn't that sweet," the mother commented with a small smile on her face. "I'm glad you boys have given my own a chance to be in a relationship with you two. It must be hard having to deal with a three-way relationship. Do you have any problems?"

"Not especially. We may argue here and there, but that's normal in any relationship," Tezuka answered her.

"And besides. Those fights are never about anything too big anyway," Ryoma reassured the Fuji family. "The worst thing that has happened is an accident here and there, but we survived through it."

"I remember the latest one," the father, Yutaka (A/N: I don't know his actual name), said, a small smile on his face as his stared at Ryoma. "You wouldn't believe how happy we were when Syuusuke gave us the call that you were alright. You had us all worried."

"Sorry for the trouble," Ryoma said, bowing his head slightly in respect before they continued on with their meal.

After finishing, they all washed up the plates and dishes and packed up any leftovers into the fridge before heading their way out of the house to start their walk around the city.

"Look over there," Fuji said, smiling as he pointed in a random direction to the group, two hours after they had finished breakfast, so it was close to noon at the moment.

"I didn't know we would meet your parents out here Mitsu," Ryoma commented, blinking a few times at the sight of Tezuka's parents across the park they were in at the moment.

"Why don't we meet them?" Fuji's mother asked, smiling as she already started walking toward the pair.

Tezuka nodded, gently grabbing Fuji's and Ryoma's hands into his own and walking toward his parents. "Okaa-san. Otou-san," he greeted as they all walked closer.

"How was breakfast with the Fuji's dear?" his mother, Ayana, greeted him with a smile and a hug.

"It was well," he answered before pulling his two boyfriends over. "As you know, this is Fuji Syuusuke and Echizen Ryoma," he said with a small smile on his face.

"It's good to see you again boys," the mother replied with a smile on her face.

"I'm glad to see that the Halloween event didn't cause any true harm to you Echizen," Kuniharu, Tezuka's father, told the boy with a slight nod of the head.

"Thanks," Ryoma replied with a nod of his own head.

"It's almost time for lunch Kunimitsu," Ayana told her son. "Are you and your boyfriends ready to join us for lunch now that the morning is over?"

"Well?" Tezuka questioned the two.

Ryoma nodded in reply as Fuji turned to his family.

"Fine with us," Yuuta replied for both Yumiko and himself.

"Go ahead and have some fun. We'll see you either later tonight or tomorrow correct?" Yoshiko asked her own son.

Fuji nodded in response, letting his parents know that he would be back by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.

"See you then son," his father replied before the Fuji family turned and left the park, leaving the three boyfriends with the Tezuka family this time.

"Let's go home then," Ayana said with a smile on her face as she turned on her heels and led the way to Tezuka's house.

"What does your family do in the afternoon after lunch?" Fuji asked the family as they got to the house.

"We tend to have tea and tend to the flower garden Ayana owns," Kuniharu answered the male, unlocking the front door as he did so.

"I'll get the table set up," Ayana chimed happily, glad to have some guests over.

"I'll help okaa-san," Tezuka offered, already taking off his shoes and stepping inside to follow his mother into the kitchen.

"Do you need any help?" Fuji offered, taking off his shoes along with Ryoma.

"No, no, make yourself at home in the dining room. We'll be out shortly," Ayana called out from the kitchen.

Kuniharu gestured his head toward the room and led the two inside where Tezuka was helping to set the table.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" Ryoma asked, raising an eyebrow at the intricate tableware being placed down.

Tezuka shook his head and continued to work as Fuji, Ryoma, and Kuniharu sat down at the table.

It was only a few minutes later where Ayana and Tezuka carried out four trays of food and placed them on the table.

Within a few minutes of eating the meal, another conversation about the three's relationship started between the family.

"I know that Kunimitsu was the first to propose to Echizen-kun, so what made you two decide to accept Fuji-kun into the relationship?" Ayana asked, staring between the three teenagers in the room.

"He seemed sincere in his affections for us both, so we both decided to give Syuusuke a try in the relationship," Tezuka explained to his mother.

"We don't regret it at all. The relationship is going good," Ryoma added, sending a small smile toward Fuji who returned it with a peck on the cheek.

"That's good to hear. Now has there been any fighting at all between you three?" Kuniharu asked. He wasn't about to let there be any violence in the relationship. That just wouldn't do for his son at all.

"No fighting. Just pranks on April Fool's Day," Ryoma answered, chuckling a bit.

"Although the prank this year turned out not to be a prank," Tezuka answered solemnly.

"Ryoma-chan here tends to be accident prone it seems," Fuji teased, reaching over to grab Ryoma's hand in his own.

"What happened?"

"Remember how I wanted to stay at the hospital on the first of April?" Tezuka questioned his parents, earning nods in return. "That was because Ryoma had been hit by a car on the way home, and we wanted to be there for him."

"Oh dear! Has anything else happened to you young man?" Ayana questioned the emerald-haired male.

Ryoma was about to shake his head in order to reassure the woman, but he thought against that. These were Tezuka's parents, and he shouldn't lie to them. "On Halloween, a haunted house collapsed on me, sending me to the hospital and putting me in a coma for at least three weeks."

"Are you alright from that?" Kuniharu questioned, looking the male over from head to toe.

"Perfectly fine," Ryoma said, adding a small smile to reassure the two parents. He didn't need them worrying after all. Tezuka, Fuji, Hanako, and his parents had done enough of that while he was in a coma.

After finishing their meal, the three went outside the house with some tea in order to start tending Ayana's garden. After taking care of the flowers and bushes and trimming of any trees in the entire house plot, it started to get dark.

"We'll see you tomorrow then Kunimitsu. Make sure not to get in trouble," Ayana called after the three as they left the Tezuka household toward the Echizen household for dinner and to stay the evening.

"We will okaa-san," Tezuka called back as the three walked hand-in-hand toward Ryoma's house.

They made it just in time to see a taxi pull up with Rinko and Nanjiroh getting out of the car.

"Let us help you with that," Fuji offered, taking up a few bags along with Tezuka and Ryoma.

"It's good to see you boys again," Rinko said, smiling at the help. "Come on Nanjiroh. Let's go inside," she said, getting some of the smaller bags along with her husband.

Once they got inside, Rinko immediately started working to make some dinner for the entire group. The three teenagers decided to play with Karupin as they waited for dinner to be served.

"What made you want to celebrate my birthday yesterday even though there was a chance I might not even be here?" Ryoma questioned the two, trying to clarify something.

"We wanted to celebrate your birthday because you are our boyfriend," Fuji answered the boy, pecking him on the forehead and smiling at the other.

"If you weren't born yesterday, then we wouldn't have be able to meet you," Tezuka added, kissing the boy on the cheek lightly before pulling away and putting his forehead against Ryoma's. "We are glad you are born today, and we will never forget that."

"You two are so cheesy," Ryoma teased with a smirk on his face. "But I guess that's why I love you two so much," he added, leaning forward to peck them both on the lips before scooping Karupin into his arms.

"I'm glad you decided to come home early Ryoma," Fuji said after a few minutes of silence, the only other noise in the room being Karupin's purring and the sounds of cooking sounding from the kitchen. There was also the occasional yell from Nanjiroh getting hit over the head with something…

"What makes you say that?" Ryoma questioned, staring at his two boyfriends with a confused look on his face. "I mean, I know you were upset that you weren't going to be able to celebrate my birthday, but is that really it?"

"We wanted to celebrate the holidays with you," Fuji answered the boy with a chuckle as he ruffled the younger's hair. "Is that so wrong?"

"No," Ryoma said, shaking his head just slightly. Looking toward the side, he asked, "But seriously. What made you so upset that you wouldn't be able to celebrate with me? You could always celebrate with me next year or even after we got back from our trip to America."

"That's true, but there is something wrong with that," Tezuka answered the boy this time, throwing an arm around both Ryoma and Fuji and tugging them close.

Fuji smiled as he laid his head in Ryoma's lap as Ryoma was pulled into Tezuka's lap, Karupin being placed on Fuji's chest.

"What's wrong with it?" Ryoma questioned, leaning his head back against Tezuka's chest as he snuggled further into the embrace as Tezuka wrapped his arms around Ryoma's waist, laying his hands on Fuji's shoulders.

Fuji chuckled as he turned slightly and wrapped an arm around Ryoma's waist.

"You really don't know?"

Ryoma shook his head before blinking slightly as Fuji leaned up to kiss him on the lips as Tezuka leaned forward and kissed his neck.

They both smiled at Ryoma before giving the boy his answer. "It's just not the same if we can't celebrate with the person we love."


End file.
